The Brightest Black - A Dramione Fanfic

Scars

Fred spun his broom, wand at the ready, only to find no one to attack. All that lay below him in the road were dead bodies. He spotted a few broomsticks among them, but a quick scan of the air around him showed that his brothers and Diggory were still there, hovering nearby. There were a few other Order members still on brooms, but they were moving away, heading once more towards the castle.

"Everyone alright?" Diggory asked.

"My broom is a bit singed, but otherwise, I'm fine," Fred said, feeling Skeeter scurrying around under his collar, likely gathering as much information as she could.

"I'm a bit singed," Charlie held up his left hand, showing a nasty burn, "but nothing compared to what that Horntail did to me last month."

"Nothing touched me, what about you Diggory?" Bill asked, rising up over the tops of the trees and looking around.

"I'm good, though I don't think I can ever wear these robes again." He held out his cloak, showing long tears in it.

"I can still see more fighting, up by the gates," Bill called down. "Let's go if everyone is good."

Everyone was, so they quickly moved out, reaching the gates in a matter of minutes. What they saw made Fred's stomach churn.

There were a few Death Eaters still standing, but they were not attacking the Order members. No, all of them were now focused on the giant spiders quickly pouring out of the trees, obviously drawn by all of the commotion. As Fred watched one spider, the size of a large dog, leapt onto the back of a Death Eater, driving it's fangs into the man's shoulders as he screamed.

A flash of silver caught his eyes and he saw Mrs. Malfoy, silver shield raised, fighting off a large spider. Alianore was at her back and casting fire spell after fire spell at the incoming swarms of little, mice sized spiders.

"BURN THEM!"

The shout, followed by a burst of flames drew Fred's attention. Padfoot was back-to-back with Mrs. Longbottom and they were intent on lighting the entire forest on fire it appeared.

"Let's go!" Bill shouted, swinging his broom down and casting a reducto at a new wave of spiders pouring in out of the forest.

Diggory and Charlie flew after Bill, casting their own spells, alternating between fire and blasts.

Fred threw his own spells, racing over the sea of spiders and fighting the urge to be sick. He wasn't as terrified of spiders as Ron, but he still had nightmares over the image of a teddy bear sized spider crawling over his baby brother.

That little bit of magic had been courtesy of George. Fred would have made a worm or something equally gross that wasn't quite so able to attack and kill people. One of the few times he had been upset at his brother. Especially as their mother had blamed both of them equally.

It wasn't enough, even with all the fire and blasts, the spiders still kept coming. Every death seemed to enrage the creatures even more. Over their screams and the sounds of spells being fired a new sound came to Fred's ears.

Something was coming through the trees

Something big.

He swung into a curve, blowing up a spider as it tried to leap on Tonks and Mooney. He could feel his thighs start to shake, he hadn't spent this long on a broom since he'd left Hogwarts last year.

CRASH!

The sound drew his attention, as it did everyone else's.

The sight chilled him to the bone.